


Talking At A Grave

by Unoriginal_Fangirl



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: 18th Century, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed III Spoilers, Assassin's Creed: Rogue, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Everyone Needs A Hug, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Haytham Kenway's A+ Parenting, I'm Sorry, Kenway Family, Letters, Loss, Loss of Parent(s), M/M, Missing Scene, Past Character Death, Please Don't Kill Me, Post-Assassin's Creed III, Post-Canon, Post-War, Sad, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 05:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19434565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unoriginal_Fangirl/pseuds/Unoriginal_Fangirl
Summary: Shay,I fear this may be my last letter to you. You do not have to try to write back - I fear I will not be there to read it.





	Talking At A Grave

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like this is a good moment to mention i have been working on 4 different fix it aus for uhh a couple of weeks and i finished this in one afternoon haha help
> 
> Its not that sad tho,, i think,,, i only cried once

_Shay,_

_I fear this may be my last letter to you. You do not have to try to write back - I fear I will not be there to read it. Connor is growing stronger by the day. He has grown into a fine young man. Perhaps, if you get the chance to meet, you will see what I saw when I met him._

_However, as fine and strong and courageous my son may be, he is still young. He is foolish and naive. Only one of us may live, and that one is him if I have any say in it. I have lived my life in length. I have many regrets. He is still young. I want him to grow._

_I do apologize it cannot wait until you return. I know you are probably on your way here by the time this letter reaches you, but it simply will take too long. My son is growing brash._

_I wish you could be here for the last of it. Death never scared me, but the certainty of it now is frightening, I admit. I'm… terrified. If I had anything to say about it, about these last few days, I would have you right here with me. I love you, Shay, know that will never change. I pray you will find it in yourself to forgive me, forgive Connor, forgive yourself._

_Take care of him, will you? I know you will be mad at him, but he is doing what he believes is right. I shall rest easy knowing you are watching over him._

_Yours,_

_Haytham_

  


Shay stared at the grave before him. He was kneeling in the grass, the last letter in his coat and the Precursor Box in his hand. He was unable to move, and he barely breathed. "You old fool," he murmured to the grave, his fingers running over the dirt. The grave had been made relatively recently.

Under the usual text carved into a grave, the sentence they all uttered stood proudly. _“May the Father of Understanding guide us.”_

_Grand Master Haytham Edward Kenway_

_4 December 1725 - 16 September 1781_

16 _September._ It had barely been weeks since Haytham had died.

Shay longed to take the Grand Master into his arms, to wake up and kiss him after a nightmare. Believing he was truly gone…

He lowered his head and rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. He wouldn't wake up, because this wasn't a nightmare.

Shay dug a hole in the ground next to the grave and put the Precursor box in. He closed the hole again and sighed. No one should ever touch that box again.

"Who are you?" a suspicious voice said from behind him.

Shay sighed, stood up, and faced the stranger.

For a second, he just stared. It was a boy, clearly not even thirty yet. His skin was darker than most British, but his face resembled Haytham.

"Connor," he greeted softly. "I'm Shay Cormac. You are his son, I assume?"

Connor nodded.

"You killed him." Shay couldn't find it in him to sound resentful. Connor really was too naive to realize his mistakes, he could tell purely from how the boy carried himself.

Connor nodded. "How do you know me?"

Shay reached in his coat and ran his fingers over the worn paper of the last letter. He'd read it over and over, and there were spots on it that looked suspiciously much like tears, but it was still readable. "In every letter he sent, from the moment he discovered your existence, he wrote at least a paragraph about you. He was proud of you, in a sense." He handed the letter to Connor, who read it in silence.

Shay could recite every word, every sentence from memory alone.

"You were his lover."

Shay looked down at the grave and a bitter smile crept onto his lips. "Yes, I suppose I was."

"He left me no choice."

"Who did? Haytham or Achilles?"

"It was Achilles's dying wish that I put down Father."

Shay swallowed. "This is the thanks I get for making Haytham spare the bastard. I should've let him kill him."

"Father tried to kill Achilles?" Connor sounded almost curious, although he was still reserved in the proximity of a Templar.

"Twenty-two years ago, not too long after you were born I assume, Achilles attempted to activate something. I killed my childhood friend in pursuit of him. I finally found Haytham standing over Achilles, gun aimed at his chest. I told him to stop. I told him it was useless. He listened to me and let Achilles off with just being crippled." Shay returned the letter to its spot in his coat.

Connor glanced at Shay's wrists and saw the blades protruding ever so slightly from under his sleeves. "I thought you were a Templar."

"I am a Templar. I was trained by Achilles, however. He was our mentor as well. He made me blow up Lisbon."

Connor looked at the grave. "I'm sorry."

Shay made a vague gesture with his hand. "Don't be."

"What was he like?" Connor asked after a short silence.

"Haytham? He was ambitious. He was charismatic, he was proud. He was not a cruel man. He loved easily. He cared about you. He wished so desperately it wouldn't have to end like this. Unlike his father and you he hated the sea," Shay added the last with a soft chuckle.

"His father?"

"Edward Kenway. I don't know much about him, only that he worked together with Adèwalè as pirate. He was an Assassin, like you. I think you inherited your talent for sea travel from him."

"You have a ship as well?"

"Yes. The Morrigan. I'd take you to see her, but her entire crew is Templar."

"I'm tired of killing," Connor said softly. "Tired of all the death."

"Me too, Kid," Shay said. "Me too."

**Author's Note:**

> I just realized that if the wiki is correct then haytham died like 4 days after shays birthday rip


End file.
